By Tracy Overstreet
tracy.overstreet@theindependent.com

There's an increased volume of water in Grand Island basements, said Dan Thrasher, operations manager for Thrasher Basements in Omaha.

The 33-year-old company has long had Grand Island customers, but it has really been in the last year, Thrasher said, that customers' water issues have grown from a trickle or a puddle to what he called a "flood" of water.

"In years past, we've seen water like this in the mid-1990s," Thrasher said.

"Throughout Nebraska, we've had a pretty significant drought during the last 10 years. What hurt everybody else helped Grand Island," he said of the drought.

But a recent turnaround, with above-normal precipitation levels along with the shutdown of several city drinking water wells in Grand Island is being blamed for a rise in the local groundwater table.

That rise has resulted in a growing number of Grand Island basements needing special dewatering systems.

Thrasher said his company has installed "20 to 30 in the last year" alone.

Larson and Hofferber had a similar system, a B-Dry system, installed years ago and never had problems. Then in April 2007 water rose in the basement of their home at 2811 Circle Drive. It topped out as high as 23 inches and took a water heater and furnace with it.

B-Dry no longer has a franchisee in Nebraska, so Larson finally turned to Thrasher for possible help.

The typical cost for a full dewatering system was $8,000 to $15,000, depending on the size of the house, Thrasher said. But because Larson and Hofferber had an existing system, Thrasher hoped that replacing pumps would be the only fix needed to get the old system working again.

Thrasher tried the replacement last week, but it wasn't a full fix.

"It lowered the water, but there's still water," Thrasher said. "When there's that much water, it has to be a pretty intensive application to solve it."

Thrasher workers were back Tuesday and Wednesday this week, installing larger pumps and more piping at no additional cost to Larson. Her basement is currently dry, but there's no warranty.

Thrasher said the only way he can offer the company's standard 25-year warranty on the work is if his company does a complete installation of its product. That would take additional money from the homeowners.

He knows Larson and Hofferber have limited financial resources, which is why he agreed to try the fix of their existing system.

"This is just a tough situation," Thrasher said.

Larson had asked the city to help by installing a dewatering well in the area, but none has been installed.

The city issued a dewatering survey and is to share those results during a 7 p.m. study session next Tuesday.

Grand Island Public Works Director Steve Riehle said the city is helping in one regard already. It's allowing dewatering in some neighborhoods to be discharged into the storm sewer. It has issued about a dozen letters allowing homeowners to do that, he said.

But Larson's neighborhood lacks a storm sewer.

So on May 11, 2006, Riehle issued a permission letter to Larson to discharge into the city's sanitary sewer system "until another alternative is found."

Riehle said this week that the permission for discharging into the sanitary sewer was only to be "an interim measure" because city code prohibits it. Sanitary sewer water is treated at an expense at the wastewater treatment plant and filling the system with discharge water could overload the system, city officials said.

Riehle revoked Larson's permission this week.

Larson will have 90 days to disconnect the discharge from the sanitary sewer system or the city will do the disconnect and bill Larson.

Thrasher said he wasn't surprised at the city revoking the permission to discharge into the sanitary sewer because he has never seen a city allow that before. Even allowing discharges into the storm sewer is rare but it may be needed in Grand Island, Thrasher said.

"There's got to be a place for the water to go," he said.

Larson's water could be discharged onto her lawn, Thrasher said, but he's concerned about flooding out lawns and neighbors.

Larson said she did discharge into her yard previously and it created a lake.

If this week's dewatering fix doesn't work, Thrasher said his company can guarantee a permanent fix, but only by installing a complete new system. That requires dewatering around the house and down the middle of the basement, where floor is torn away and then replaced.

"There's no way to fix it only halfway," Thrasher said.